TOKYO (AP) – An unexploded World War II U.S. bomb buried at a Japanese airport exploded Wednesday, leaving a large crater in a taxiway and canceling more than 80 flights, Japan said. Officials announced.
According to Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism officials, no one was injured and there were no planes nearby when the bomb exploded at Miyazaki Airport.
Investigations by the Self-Defense Forces and police confirmed that the explosion was caused by a 500-pound bomb from the U.S. military and that there was no greater danger. Authorities had determined the cause of the sudden explosion.
Video recorded by a nearby flight school showed the blast sending asphalt debris into the air like fountains. Video shown on Japanese television showed a crater on the taxiway, about 7 meters (yards) in diameter and about 1 meter (3 feet) deep.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said more than 80 flights were canceled at the airport as of mid-afternoon Wednesday.
The airport said damage to the taxiway was repaired overnight and flights resumed Thursday morning.
Miyazaki Airport was built in 1943 as a flight training ground for the former Japanese Navy, where some pilots departed on kamikaze missions.
Dozens of unexploded ordnance dropped by the US military during World War II have been unearthed in the area, Defense Ministry officials said.
Hundreds of tons of unexploded ordnance from the war are buried all over Japan, and are sometimes dug up at construction sites.
